Partners
by MondaysAreBoring
Summary: When two masters of the Jade Palace have some free time in years, they met up at a place iconic to the Valley of Peace, and do things just like back in their younger days. Really bad summary, I know. Submission for #KFPFRIEND2016.


Nighttime was just a round the corner, as the sun was slowly going down the horizon. The afterglow presented shades of yellow and orange, with slight purple scattered in the sky. People (Animals?) can be seen returning to their houses, which they were greeted by their love ones. Here at the Jade Palace, Po stood at the cliff where the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom stood, while looking at the scenery in front of him.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Tigress asked, as she walked towards Po and stood beside him. "It's been a while since we come here… but the view is beautiful as always."

"Ever since Shifu passed on and everyone else decided to return to their hometown, well except for Crane, who was asked to teach in Lee Da, the two of us became really busy. The both of us took over the Grand Master position, have new students to teach and we had to attend annual meetings, which took up a lot of our time." Po then turned to Tigress and looked at her. "It is until recently, we only have some free time. We are not required for many missions now, since our students have grown. They can practice and go on missions on their own now." Po turned away from the cliff and walked towards the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. He then punched the tree, and two peaches fell into his hands.

"You want one?" Po extended his right arm with a peach in his hand, offering it to Tigress. Tigress gave a faint smile and walked towards Po, grabbing the peach in his hands and sat down under the tree. Po followed Tigress and sat down beside her, who was already starting to eat the peach.

"The peach still taste as good as the time I first ate it, which was like what, thirty years ago?" Tigress took another bite, and the juice started to leak out of the peach. "Juicy as always." she quickly finish off the peach and licked her hands clean.

"Imagine if I didn't pull you up here thirty years ago just to try the peach. Back then you were so resistant about eating the peach, saying stuff like 'We are not supposed to eat the peach' and stuff like how disrespectful it is to Master Oogway." Po took a bite from the peach, savoring the taste of the fruit. "Eventually you gave in due to my constant bickering about the peach, and all I can ask you now is, do you regret taking that first bite of the peach?"

"I regretted taking the first bite," Po gave Tigress a face of disappointment as he certainly didn't expect Tigress's answer. "Because of how good the peach was. After that I came here every week just to eat the peach. I blame you for my addiction, Po." Tigress punched Po's arm, and gave him a smile. Po pouted at Tigress, only to receive a smirk from Tigress. "You know you look really cute when you pout right?" Po blushed heavily, as his face turned a deep shade of red. He took another bite of the peach and turned away from Tigress. "I'm not sorry for being cute. Besides, how can I still be cute at like what, few years away from sixty?"

"Who says you couldn't be cute at your current age? Cuteness doesn't depend on how old the person is." Tigress stood up and walked towards Po. "If I think you're cute, then you're cute. That's it. Simple as that." She offered her hand to Po, who just finished his peach. Po looked at Tigress, and gave her his trademark grin before giving Tigress his hand. Tigress pulled Po up and they started walking towards the palace.

The sun has disappeared underneath the horizon, as the two kung fu masters walked towards the training hall. Their students have finished their training, and the training hall is now empty. Po walked to the center of the training courtyard, and stroked a pose at Tigress.

"Care to have a spar with me? It's been ages since we last sparred." Tigress looked at Po, and prepared herself. "Sure why not? You obviously miss the feeling of losing to me in sparing."

"You never know, I might beat you this time."

"Bring it."

The two of them started sparing, and despite their age they move around the courtyard as if they were still at their prime. Po seemed to be the one who has the upper hand, until…

"CRACK"

Po stood still, then reached to his hip and grabbed it.

"Looks like someone twisted his hip."

"Do you mind helping me?"

Tigress gave a small chuckle, then placed Po's arm over her back. She then led him to the kitchen, which Po then pulled out a chair and sat on it.

"I should have done some warm up. I'm too old to not injure myself without a warm up." Po said, then sighed and slammed his face onto the table. "Yeah, now you know. Just do some stretching before you sleep and rest for the few days. I'll take over your classes for the next few days." Tigress lit the wood under the stove and place a wok over the fire. "I'll prepare our food, since someone isn't capable of moving at the moment." Po observed how Tigress move through the kitchen, and that reminds him of how much time he too to teach her how to cook proper food. Compare to the Tigress years ago, who couldn't cook anything other than tofu stir fry, now she can cook almost any home cooking possible, including his Secret Recipe Noodles.

"And… done," Tigress poured the soup from the wok into the bowl which contains the noodles. She brought the bowls to the table and passed one to Po, who carefully lifted a few strands of noodles from the bowl and sat across of him.

"Blow, you don't want to burn your mouth with those noodles." Tigress warned Po, who in return, just gave her a smile. "Sure, sure, if that makes you happy," The two of them ate in silence, until Po broke the silence. "I sure do miss those days, where the six of us and Master Shifu would eat together." Tigress looked at Po, who was looking down into the table. "Now there's only you from the Five left in the Jade Palace." Tigress patted his shoulder, "Well, technically the Jade Palace is my home, so it would pretty natural for me not to go anywhere else. Besides, you're here. I mean, if you decided to leave the Jade Palace one day, I will follow you wherever you go."

Po went into deep thought for a moment, and lifted is head up. "Thank you Tigress, for being by my side all the time, even when everything seems to fall apart for me." Tigress shook her head and looked into Po's eyes. "No, thank YOU. If you didn't fall from the sky and become the Dragon Warrior, I would still be that cold hearted Tigress who doesn't care about anything other than training just to make Master Shifu proud of me. It was you who brought life into the boring Jade Palace, and more importantly, it was you who made me realize that Kung Fu isn't my life. You helped me pull myself back when I got really depressed due to Master Shifu's passing. You were the one that made me realize that Master Shifu was proud of me this whole time. You become my friend even I hated you. You didn't give up on me, and with those reasons, I should be the one thanking you, and not the other way around." Po looked at Tigress, and smiled. "Thank you for comforting me. That was needed. Hey, why not we visit my dads down at the village? Even though Lei Lei is running the restaurant now, my dads are still staying in the restaurant."

"We should, it's been awhile since I've seen them. I wonder how they are doing now. Wait, what about your injury?"

"I'll be okay by tomorrow. I'm the Dragon Warrior remember? I have a large supply of chi, so I will be healed in no time. Tomorrow after your training with our students ends, we will head down to the restaurant to pay them a visit." Po said in an exited tune. "We have to get some gifts for them…"

The two of them talked for a really long time, with topics ranging from years and years of their memories with Master Shifu and the four to how their students are coping with their training. As Po continued talking about one of his encounters with another Kung Fu master when he was at a conference in Chang An, Tigress slowly closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands, and drifted off into her dreams.

"Tigress? Tigress? Well I guess she was really tired." Po took the empty bowls and placed them into a basin, and went to grab a blanket from an empty room in the student barracks. He covered Tigress with the blanket, and set across of her with his head on the table.

 _Look at her, beautiful as always, even when she's sleeping. To many people she might not be a perfect being, but in my eyes, those imperfects of hers made her perfect to me. I'm so glad I have someone like her, who is my best friend, and someone I hold dearly in my heart at the same time._


End file.
